Wednesday 7 March 2018

Body Image in Boys

Body image and self esteem have always been two major struggles in my life, growing up and seeing my mom obsess about her figure which btw was a perfect size 6 always going on some or other 'diet' it really affected me especially as an overweight child/teen.

But I almost choked on my coffee when on Sunday the boys came home and Loghan went out the back to run around, coming in with a huff and a puff I asked him what he was doing, he then proceeded to grip his tummy between his hands and say "exercising mom, I need to get rid of this".

I was mortified guys, staring at my 10 year old I could only ask him who on Earth had told him he needed to change his body, he simply shrugged and said "no one mommy I just know that I am fat".

I never thought I would face this issue with my boys and please don't get me wrong I know that self image and body confidence can be every inch as important for a boy as it is for a girl but it still shred my mommy heart to pieces knowing that my child sees his body as anything other than perfect.

I have always done my best to ensure my boys know that its ok to look as ever they please as long as they are comfortable and happy withing their bodies it really is no one else's business, but the crux of this topic is that I myself don't feel ok with my body and truth be told there is probably not a day that goes by where I don't criticize myself and my body... Ive tried believe me I have tried but that voice in head always comes back to bite me , so how can I expect my boys to feel any different... I spent my childhood watching my mother hate on her body and now I am doing the same, society claims to promote body confidence but it doesn't.. not really and it stinks it really does.

I want my boys to be happy, I don't want them to feel like they need to change themselves to impress anyone other than their own self but I feel like a complete hypocrite like seriously argh anybody face this conundrum? What do you do to try and improve the way you feel about your own body and to encourage the self esteem of your child?

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